1 Festus, p. 135., says: Rumen est pars colli, qua esca devoratur (The rumen, or gullet, is that part of the neck, where food is swallowed). Nonius, p. 18.: rumen dicitum locus in ventre, quo cibus sumitur et unde redditur (rumen was applied to the locality in the belly to which food is taken in and from which it is given back).—Isidore, Etymolog. bk. XII. 37., Ruminatio autem dicta est a ruma, eminente gutturis parte, per quam dimissus cibus a certis animalibus revocatur (Now rumination is so called from the ruma, or gullet, the upper portion of the throat, by which food after being swallowed is brought up again by certain animals). It is true Varro gives another explanation: ruminare propter rumam, id est prisco vocabulo mammam (to ruminate so called on account of the ruma, that is in old Latin the breast); and so one might equally well understand by irrumare the custom of voluptuaries, one that is still practised, of employing the space between the bosoms as vagina. At any rate Dr. Hacker of Leipzig assured the author he had on several occasions observed cases where prostitutes had chancrous swellings between the bosoms, as well as under the arm-pits,—for these also are employed with the same object.—Does ruma possibly stand for rima (a chink)? In any case we should compare what Suidas gives under the words ῥῦμα, ῥῦμη and ῥύμματα. Synonyms are comprimere linguam, buccam offendere, etc. (to compress the tongue, to hit against the cheek).

2 The etymology of fellare is still obscure. Vossius, Etymolog., derives it from the Æolic φηλᾶν for θηλᾶν and θηλάζειν, to suck the breasts. Pliny, Hist. Nat. bk. XI. 65., says of the tongue of cats: imbricatae asperitatis ac limae similis, attenuansque lambendo cutem hominis (of a ridged roughness of surface, like a file, capable of wearing through the human skin by licking). The meanings which Suidas gives under φελλά, etc. would seem to point to an old stem φέλλω,—to roughen, to file.

3 Lucian, Works, edit. Lehmann, Vol. VIII. pp. 56-84.

4 πρὸς θεῶν, εἶπέ μοι, τὶ πάσχεις, ἐπειδὰν κἀκεῖνα λέγωσιν οἱ πολλοὶ, λεσβιάζειν σε καὶ φοινικίζειν; (for translation see text above); as to φοινικίζειν, this will be discussed later on. The word λεσβιάζειν occurs in Aristophanes, Frogs 1335; and he also uses λεσβιεῖν in the same sense, Wasps, 1386., μέλλουσαν ἤδη λεσβιεῖν τοὺς ξυμπότας; (a girl standing ready to λεσβιεῖν—love in the Lesbian mode,—the revellers). On this passage the Scholiast remarks: ἵνα μὴ τὸ παλαιὸν τοῦτο καὶ θρυλλούμενον δι’ ἡμετέρων στομάτων εἴπω σόφισμα, ὅ φασι παῖδας Λεσβίων εὑρεῖν. (this ancient trick, a matter of common gossip to any in our mouths, which they say the children of the Lesbians invented).—Suidas s. v. Λεσβίαι· μολύναι τὸ στόμα. Λέσβιοι γὰρ διεβάλλοντο ἐπὶ αἰσχρότητι. (under the word Λεσβίαι—Lesbian women, to defile the mouth. For the Lesbians were reproached for foulness). Hesychius: λεσβιάζειν· πρὸς ἄνδρα στόμα στύειν. Λεσβιάδας γὰρ τὰς λαικαστρίας ἔλεγον. (to play the Lesbian; to use the mouth to a man for an obscene purpose. For they used to call wanton courtesans Lesbians). Eustathius, Comment. ad Homeri Iliad, p. 741., εἰσὶ βλασφημίαι καὶ ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων καὶ δήμων πολλαί, ῥηματικῶς πεποιημέναι· ἐθνῶν μὲν, οἵον κιλικίζειν καὶ αἰγυπτιάζειν, τὸ πονηρεύεσθαι, καὶ κρητίζειν, τὸ ψεύδεσθαι· ἐκ πόλεων δὲ, οἷον λεσβιάζειν, τὸ αἰσχροποιεῖν· εἶτα παραγαγόντες Φερεκράτους χρῆσιν ἐν Ἰάμβῳ τὸ δώσει δέ σοι γυναῖκας ἑπτὰ Λεσβίας· ἐπάγουσιν ἀμοιβαῖον τί· καλον γε δῶρον ἕπτ’ ἔχειν λαικαστρίας· ὡς τοιούτων οὐσῶν τῶν Λεσβίων γυναικῶν· ἐκ δήμων δὲ βλασφημία, τὸ αἰξωνεύεσθαι, ἤγουν κακολεγεῖν. Αἰξωνεῖς γὰρ δημόταται Ἀττικοί, σκωπτόμενοι ὡς κακολόγοι, καθὰ καὶ οἱ Σφήττιοι ἐπὶ ἀγριότητι. (And there are many reproaches applying to nations, and cities, and demes, implied in the use of certain words; for instance in the case of nations, to play the Cilician, and to play the Egyptian, i. e. to be a rogue, and to play the Cretan, i.e. to be a liar; again, in the case of cities, to act the Lesbian, i. e. to act filthily; further we may bring forward a passage of Pherecrates in Iambic verse, viz. the line, “And he shall give thee seven Lesbian women,” to which the answering verse is, “Verily! a noble gift, to get seven harlots,” implying that such was the character of the Lesbian women. Lastly an example of such a reproach applying to demes, to play the Æxonian, in other words to be foul-mouthed. For the Æxonians were Attic demes-men, ridiculed as being evil-speakers in the same way as the Sphettians were on the ground of rusticity). The word σόφισμα (trick) in the passage of the Scholiast to Aristophanes explains the word “dogma” in Martial, bk. IX. 48., Dic mihi, percidi, Pannice, dogma quod est? (Tell me, Pannicus, what is the trick of the paederast?). Theopompus in “Ulysses” says: δι’ἡμετέρων στομάτων εἴπω σόφισμ’ὅ φασι παῖδας Λεσβίων εὑρεῖν. (a certain trick common in our mouths which they say children of the Lesbians invented). Strattis in “Pytisus”: τῷ στόματι δράσω ταῦθ’ἅπερ τοῦ αἰσχροῦ τάττεται [ταῦθ’ ἅπερ οἱ Λέσβιοι]. (with my mouth I will do those things that are reckoned as obscene,—those things that the Lesbians do).]

5 Haud scio an Rhododaphnes cognomine a Syris isti tradito tecte sugilletur cunnilingus, ita ut rosa lateat cunnus, in lauri folio lingua lingens, (I cannot say for certain whether by the surname of “Rhododaphne”—rose-laurel—given the man by the Syrians it is covertly suggested he was a cunnilingus, as much as to say that while a cunnus—female organ—is suggested by the rose, a licking tongue is the same in the laurel-leaf), says Forberg, loco citato p. 281. Suidas, s. v. ῥοδωνία· ἔστι μὲν ὁ τῶν ῥόδων λείμων· ἄλλοι δὲ καὶ τὴν ῥοδοδάφνην οὕτω φασὶ καλεῖσθαι (under the word ῥοδωνία—rose-garden: it is the meadow of roses; but others again say this is called ῥοδοδάφνη). Pliny, Hist. Nat. XVI. 33. Hesychius, s. v. ῥοδωνία says: δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὸ ἀνδρὸς αἰδοῖον αὕτη. (under the word ῥοδωνία—rose-garden: this signifies also the human genitals).

6 The explanation of this is to be found in the Priapeia Carmina, 75.

Barbatis non nisi summa petet.

(With bearded men will touch but the extremities).

7 Pseudo-Galen, Works, edit. Kühn, Vol. XIX. p. 142.

8 Handbuch der Klinik (Hand-book of Clinical Medicine), vol. VII. p. 88. Also at a yet earlier date in Schmidt’s Jahrbuch 1837., Vol. XIII. p. 101.

9 Στομάργου, ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν ἐπιδημιῶν ὁ Διοσκουρίδης οὕτως γράφει, καὶ δηλοῦσθαι φησὶ τοῦ λαλοῦντος μανικῶς· οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι στυμάργου γράφουσι καὶ ὄνομα κύριον ἀκούουσι. (Στομάργου: in the second Book of the Epidemia Dioscorides writes the word thus, and says it signifies such as talk insanely; others however write στυμάργου, and understand it as a proper name).

10 Hippocrates, Bk. II. sect. 2. edit. Kühn, Vol. III. p. 436., Καὶ ἡ Στυμαργέω ἐκ ταραχῆς ὀλιγημέρου πολλὰ στήσασα, κ. τ. λ. (And the female slave of Stymargeos having after a few days’disturbance re-established much, etc.)—The same passage occurs in Galen, Comments on the Epid. bk. II. edit. Kühn, Vol. XVII. A. p. 324., with an explanation of the subject-matter, and also has Στυμαργέω.—Ibidem, p. 458., ἡ Στυμάργεω οἰκέτις ἡ Ἰδουμαια ἐγένετο, κ. τ. λ. (the female slave of Stymargeos, the Idumaean, was, etc.).—GaleἸδουμαῖαn cites the passage, loco citato p. 467., without comment, but he likewise reads Στυμάργεω. In two other passages, in which he comments on the statements last quoted from Hippocrates, the text is obviously corrupt. In “De tremore, palpitatione, convulsione et rigore” (Of Trembling, Palpitation, Convulsion and Rigor), edit. Kühn, vol. III. p. 602, it reads: Ἐστυμάργεω οἰκέτις, ᾗ οὐδὲ αἵμα ἐγένετο, ὡς ἔτεκε θυγατέρα, κ. τ. λ. (a female slave of Estymargeos, in whose case flowed no blood at all, when she gave birth to a daughter, etc.). Also Assmann in his Index to Kühn’s Edition of Galen, pp. 232 and 307., represents it by Estymergi ancilla (a female slave of Estymergus). However there can be no doubt Ἡ Στυμάργεω οἰκέτις (The female slave of Stymargeos) ought to be read in Galen; on the other hand we see clearly from this passage that the text of Hippocrates is quite wrong in giving the Proper name ἡ Ἰδουμαῖα (the Idumaean), and this, as indeed the sense too requires, must be changed into ᾗ αἵμα οὐδὲ (in whose case not even blood); and one is more especially convinced of this on reading the explanation given by Galen, loco citato. Besides this, following Galen’s lead, we should read δεῖ ἐλθεῖν for διελθεῖν and προφάσεως for προφάσιος. Also he has ἀφορμὴν instead of ἀχὴν.—The second passage of Galen occurs in the “De venae sectione” (On the opening of a Vein) adv. Erasistrat., ch. 5.: ἐκεῖνο δέ πως εἴρηται; ἐκ τοῦ μαργέω οἰκέτιδος οὐδὲ αἵμα ἐγένετο, ὡς ἔτεκε θυγατέρα, ἀπέστραπτο τὸ στόμα πρός [τῆς μήτρας καὶ ἐς] ἰσχίον καὶ σκέλος ὀδύνη, παρὰ σφυρὸν τμηθεῖσα ἐράϊσε [ἐῤῥῄισε], καίτοι τρόμοι τὸ σῶμα περικατεῖχον [πᾶν κατεῖχον]· ἀλλ’ἐπὶ τὴν πρόφασιν χρὴ ἐλθεῖν καὶ τῆς προφάσεως τὴν τροφήν. (Now how is this account given? from a female slave of Stymargeos not even blood flowed, when she gave birth to a daughter; the mouth was distorted from (the womb, and in) loin and leg there was pain; on being cut (bled) on the ankle, she found relief, though shudderings ran down the (whole) body; but we must go to the cause, and the origin of the cause). Here too it is evident, besides the emendations already pointed out as necessary, we must read ἐκ Στυμάργεω, as the edition of Kühn, vol. XI. p. 161., does actually and rightly read. Dioscorides may be right so far, that the word, strictly speaking, is not a “Nomen proprium” (Proper name), but in the passage named it stands for one, if only, as is likely enough, for a nickname, as it is called.

11 Athenaeus, Deipnos., bk. I. ch. 8., quotes from the “Phaon” of the Comic Poet Plato: τρίγλη—καὶ στύματα μισεῖ. (a mullet,—and hates erections). Comp. bk. VII. ch. 126.

12 The verb στύω (I erect the penis) occurs often in Aristophanes, e.g. “Acharnians” 1218., στύομαι (I have an erection), “Peace”, 727., ἐστυκότες (men with penes standing), “Lysistr.” 214., ἐστυκὼς (a man with penis standing), 598., στῦσαι (to make the penis stand), 869., ἔστυκα γὰρ (for my penis was standing); always in the sense of to make, or have, an erection.

13 Suidas explains μάργος by μαινόμενος (being mad) and Hesychius also by ὑβριστὴς (recklessly insolent), a word we have already learned from repeated examples to recognize as signifying unnatural lust. Clement of Alexandria, Paedag., bk. II. ch. 1. p. 146., says: καὶ ἡ λαιμαργία, μανία περὶ τὸ λαιμόν, καὶ ἡ γαστριμαργία, ἀκρασία, περὶ τὴν τροφήν· ὡς δὲ καὶ τοὔνομα περιέχει, μανία ἐπὶ γαστέρα· ἐπεὶ μάργος, ὁ μεμῃνώς. (And gluttony, i. e. madness in connection with the gullet, and greediness, i. e. intemperance in connection with food, in other words as the name implies, madness as to the belly; for μάργος means a madman).

14 Lucian, Pseudologist. ch. 21., uses ἔργον (work) of the Irrumator and Fellator. Similarly Horace, Epod. VIII. 19, says:

(a member ... that needs, for you to provoke it to rise from the unsympathetic groin, to be worked with your mouth). Ovid’s phrase “dulce opus” (sweet task) and Horace’s “molle opus” (gentle task) are familiar. Comp. Hesychius, s.v. ἀῤῥητουργία,—αἰσχρουργία, κακουργία, τὰ ἀῤῥητα ἐργάζεσθαι, (under the word ἀῤῥητουργία, infamous action,—base action, evil action, the performance of infamous tasks).

15 The word στόμαργος is found in Sophocles, in a passage where Electra says to Clytaemnestra (581):

(Proclaim me to all, if need be, an evil woman, foul-mouthed and full of shamelessness. For if I am cunning in these tasks, it is but that I am not far from sharing your own character). Suidas under the word interprets στόμαργος here by φλύαρος (prating). Philo, De Monarchia bk. I. edit. Mangey, vol. II. p. 219., says: στομαργίᾳ χρήσασθαι καὶ ἀχαλίνῳ γλώσσῃ, βλασφημοῦντας οὓς ἕτεροι νομίζουσι θεούς. (to indulge in loose talking and an unbridled tongue, blaspheming such as other men hold to be gods). The Etymologicum Magnum s. v. γλώσσαργον, στόμαργον ἠ ταχύγλωσσον, (under the word idle-tongued,—foul-mouthed or loose-tongued). Whereas Aristophanes has the word στοματουργός, “Frogs” 848.,

(So thence a phrase-making word-sifting, smooth tongue ...)

16 Comp. p. 172 above. Lucian, Pseudolog. ch. 31., calls it παροινῶν (acting drunkenly). Athenaeus, Deipnos. bk. XIII. ch. 80., φιλόπαις δ’ἦν ἐκμανῶς καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος, ὁ βασιλεύς. (And he was a lover of boys, to an insane degree, was Alexander the King). Dio Chrysostom, Tarsica I. p. 409., says of the ῤέγχειν (snorting of the Cinaedi): ἀλλ’ ἐστὶ σημεῖον τῆς αἰσχάτης ὕβρεως καὶ ἀπονοίας (but it is a sign of the most abandoned insolence and infatuation), and again p. 412.: ὡς ἤδη μανία τὸ γιγνόμενον ἔοικεν αἰσχρᾷ καὶ ἀπρέπει (so now the resulting condition resembles madness, disgraceful and unseemly madness). Clement of Alexandria, Paedag. bk. III. ch. 8., περὶ τὰ παιδικὰ ἐκμανῶς ἐπτοημένοι (men set upon enjoyments with boys insanely). But above all is the following passage from Juvenal (Sat. VI. 299) apposite in this connection:

(For of what does drunken love take heed? What are the differences betwixt groin and head, she ignores). Seneca, De ira II.: Raptus ad stupra et ne os quidem libidini exceptum. (Carried away into obscenities and not even the mouth held secure from lust). Lactantius, VI. 23., Quorum teterrima libido et execrabilis furor ne capiti quidem parcit. (Whose most foul lust and abominable frenzy spares not even the head).

17 Xenophon, Cyropaed. II. 2. 28. Hence too Cicero, Tuscul. V. 20., Haberet etiam more Graeciae quosdam adolescentes amore coniunctos (he would keep also, after the fashion of Greece, sundry young men bound to him in ties of affection); of course it is a question here of Paedophilia merely, but we have seen how readily this was confounded with Paederastia. Aristophanes, Eccles. 918.,

(Now, wretched woman, you itch after the fashion of Ionia; and you appear to me to long even for the Lambda (licking) of the Lesbian mode). Hence motus Ionicos (Ionic movements) in Horace, Odes III. 5. 24. and Plautus, Stich. V. 7. 1., Quis Ionicus aut cinaedus qui hoc tale facere posset. (What Ionian or cinaedus is there could show himself capable of such an act as this).

18 Hippocrates, Epidem. bk. II. sect. 1. edit. Kühn, Vol. III. p. 435.

19 Comment. in Hippocrat. Epidem., bk. II. edit. Kühn, Vol. XVII. A. p. 312.

20 Martial, bk. XII. 55., Nec clusis aditum neget labellis. (and refuse not access by shutting the lips).

21 Μύζουσις is cited by Eustathius on Homer, Odyssey XVII. p. 1821. 52. and XIV. p. 1921. end, as also ἀπομύζουρις on Iliad XI. p. 867. 44., in the sense of fellatrix, παρὰ τὸ μυζᾶν, ἤγουν θηλάζειν οὐράν. (connected with μυζᾶν, to suck, that is to say to suck like an infant a man’s member). Suidas says: μυζεῖ καὶ μύζει, θηλάζει λείχει μῦ, μύζει· ἀπὸ τοῦ μῦ παρῆκται τὸ μύζειν, πολλοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοίως· μύζειν δέ ἐστι τὸ τοῖς μυκτῆρσιν ἦχον ἀποτελεῖν. Ἀριστοφάνης τί μύζεις,—(μυζεῖ and μύζει,—sucks like an infant, licks with a mooing noise, moos); from this mooing noise is derived μύζειν as is the case with other similar words; now μύζειν is to produce the noise made in the nostrils in the act of sucking. Aristophanes has τί μύζεις; (what is the mooing noise you make?) On this passage of Aristophanes (Thesmoph. 238.) the Scholiast observes: τοῦτο δὲ φώνημα σημαίνει ἔκλυσίν τινα ἀφροδισιαστικήν· ὅθεν καὶ μύται ἐλέγοντο τὸ παλαιὸν ἀφροδισιασταὶ καὶ γυναικομανεῖς. (Now this sound proclaims a certain dissoluteness in lovemaking; whence of old voluptuaries and men mad after women were called also μύται). Μῦς, the mouse, also comes from the same stem, from its picking and gnawing; so does μυῖα, the fly, and as Aelian, Hist. Anim. bk. XV. ch. 1., says of a fish, ὑποχανὼν κατέπιε τῆν μυῖαν (it gaped its mouth and swallowed down the fly), we might perhaps read μυιοχάνη after flies, as if she wanted to catch flies, a fly-catcher, fly-trap, unless indeed we prefer to take μυιοχάνη as being a compound-word expressing a high degree of lecherousness. The lecherous nature of the fly is well-known, as well as their habit of licking, which makes Varro, de Re Rust. III. ch. 15., say: Non ut muscae liguriunt. (They do not lick, like flies). Ligurire (to lick) is used in the sense of fellare and cunnilingere. Aelian, Hist. Anim. bk. IV. ch. 5., mentions a fish, χάνη, which is particularly lustful: χάνη δὲ ἰχθὺς λαγνίστατος (Now the χάνη is a most lustful fish). Again μυσαροχάνη (μυσαρὸς, filthy) would be a significant word for a fellatrix.

22 Suidas, s. v. μυσάχνη, ἡ πόρνη παρὰ Ἀρχιλόχῳ· καὶ ἐργάτις καὶ δῆμος καὶ παχεῖα. Ἱππῶναξ δὲ βορβορόπιν καὶ ἀκάθαρτον ταύτην φησίν. ἀπὸ τοῦ βορβόρου καὶ ἀνασυρτόπολιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνασύρεσθαι. Ἀνακρέων δὲ πανδοσίαν καὶ λεωφόρον, καὶ μανιόκηπον· κῆπος γὰρ τὸ μόριον. Εὔπολις εἰλίποδα, ἐκ τῆς εἰλήσεως τῶν ποδῶν τῆς κατὰ τὴν μίξιν. (under the word μυσάχνη; this means “the prostitute” in Archilochus; also in same sense working-woman, and commonalty, and brawny wench. Also Hipponax calls an unclean woman of the sort filthy-eyed (βορβορόπις) from βόρβορος, mire, and town-exposer ἀνασυρτόπολις from ἀνασύρεσθαι, to pull up the clothes. Also Anacreon uses all-giving and public thoroughfare and mad in the privates (μανιόκηπος); for κῆπος (a garden) means a woman’s private parts. Eupolis uses walking with a rolling gait, from the rolling of the legs, the result of sexual intercourse).

23 Lampridius, Life of Heliogabalus ch. 5. Clement of Alexandria, Paedag. bk. III. p. 254. edit. Potter, ἁβροδίαιτος περιεργία πάντα ζητεῖ, πάντα ἐπιχειρεῖ, βιάζεται πάντα· συνέχει τὴν φύσιν· τὰ γυναικῶν οἱ ἄνδρες πεπόνθασιν καὶ γυναῖκες ἀνδρίζονται παρὰ φύσιν· γαμούμεναί τε καὶ γαμοῦσαι γυναῖκες· πόρος δὲ οὐδεὶς ἄβατος ἀκολασίας. (delicately-living idleness searches out all things, attempts all things, forces all things. It constrains Nature. Men have come to endure the treatment proper to women, while women act as men contrary to nature; women are both given in marriage and themselves take men in marriage, and no way of impurity is left untrod. Again of a similar significance are perhaps the words μυριοστόμος (ten-thousand-mouthed) and ἀθυροστόμος, ἀθυροστομία, ἀθυροστομέω (unrestrained of mouth, unrestrainedness of mouth, to be unrestrained of mouth), and εὐρόστομος (wide-mouthed). Epicrates said of a lecherous girl, ἡδ’ἀρ’ἦν μυωνία (she was a regular mouse-hole), and Philemon called another μῦς λεύκος) (white mouse), while Aelian, Hist. Anim. Bk. XII. ch. 10, gives yet another similar expression, μυωνίαν ὅλην ὀνομάσας (having named her a complete mouse-hole); she is a perfect mouse-hole, in other words she has as many entrances as a mouse-hole. Instead of μυριοχαύνη we might also read μυριομήχανος (of ten-thousand devices), referring to the fessus mille modis (fatigued by a thousand modes of pleasure) in Martial, bk. IX. 58. and on the analogy of Δωδεκαμήχανος (of a dozen devices), a name borne by the “fille de joie” Cyrené, because she had contrived twelve different postures of Love. Comp. Suidas, under word δωδεκαμήχανος, and the Scholiast on Aristophanes, “Frogs” 1356. Also μιαροχάνη (μιαρὸς, polluted) might be defended, on reference to Aristophanes, Acharnians 271-285.

24 Hippocrates, Epidem. bk. II. Vol. III. p. 436. Galen, vol. XVII. A. p. 322.

25 Perhaps the word was σαπερδίς, which in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. VIII. 30., signifies a certain fish, for in Athenaeus, Deipnos. p. 591., σαπέρδιον (the diminutive) is the nick-name of a hetaera, and when Diogenes (Diogenes Laertius, VI. 2. 6.) made a scholar wear a σαπέρδης, the latter threw it away (ὑπ’ αἰδοῦς ῥίψας), (having cast it from him in disgust). Note at the same time that the word Sarapis also occurs in Plautus (Paenulus V. 5. 30 sqq.), where Anthemonides says:

(Thou mannikin, go to and be crucified! Dost dare to play the lover here, thou Tom Thumb of a man? or to meddle with what male men love? Skinned sprat, Sarapis of the corn-crops, sheepskin, common salt of the market; and yet reeking worse of garlic and leek than Roman bargees!). To restore this undoubtedly corrupt text is beyond our powers, but this much at any rate results from the passage as a whole that Sarapis or Sarrapis here too signifies a vicious man. Anthemonides certainly takes Hanno, to whom this speech is addressed, for a cinaedus, for he says later on: “nam te cinaedum esse arbitror magis quam virum” (but I reckon you to be a cinaedus rather than a man), and he had previously said: “Quis hic homo est cum tunicis longis, quasi puer cauponius?” (Who is this fellow with the long tunics, like a waiter at a cookshop?) and “Sane genus hoc muliebrosum est tunicis demissitiis.” (Surely this is a womanish sort, with his trailing tunics). Similarly Turnebus, Adversar. bk. X. ch. 24., mentions the fact that Hesychius explains σάραπις by περσικὸς χιτὼν (a Persian tunic). However he prefers to read, instead of Sarrapis, arra pisa ementium, (pledge of such as buy at the price of one pea) in reference to the vice of Bacchus, “obscoenum et mollem virum, qui pro arra dari possit vilis mercimonii.” (a foul and deboshed man, fit only to be given as pledge at the value of any cheap commodity).

26 Comp. the passage of Lucian quoted on p. 229 above. Suetonius, Tiberius ch. 44., “Majore adhuc et turpiore infamia flagravit, vox ut referri audirive, nedum credi, fas sit. Quasi pueros primae teneritudinis, quos pisciculos vocabat, institueret, ut natanti sibi inter femina versarentur ac luderent, lingua et morsu sensim appetentes, atque etiam quasi infantes firmiores, necdum tamen lacte depulsos, inguini seu papillae admoveret; pronior sane ad id genus libidinis et natura et aetate. Quare Parrhasii quoque tabulam, in qua Meleagro Atalanta ore morigeratur, legatam sibi sub conditione, ut si argumento offenderetur, decies pro ea sestertium acciperet, non modo praetulit, sed et in cubiculo dedicavit.” (He was guilty of a yet more flagrant and abominable villainy, so much so it hardly admits of being related or listened to, let alone believed, to this effect. He arranged that boys of tender years, whom he called his little fishes, should move about between his thighs, as he swam, and play there making darts at him with tongue and mouth and biting him softly; also infants of somewhat stronger growth, but still not yet weaned, he would put to his member as if to their mothers’teat, being indeed both by natural disposition and time of life more apt to this form of indulgence. So when a picture of Parrhasius, in which Atalanta is represented gratifying Meleager with her mouth, was willed to him with the stipulation that, if he objected to the subject, he should have a million serterces instead, not only did he choose the painting, but actually enshrined it in his bed-chamber). Theophrastus, Charact. ch. 11., ὁ δὲ βδελυρὸς τοιοῦτος, οἵος ὑπαντήσας γυναιξὶν ἐλευθέραις ἀνασυράμενος δεῖξαι τὸ αἰδοῖον. (But he was such a filthy wretch, that on meeting free women he would pull up his clothes and show his private parts.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Excerpt. de Legat. ch. 9. says of the Tarentine Philonis, ἀνασυράμενος τὴν ἀναβολὴν καὶ σχηματίσας ἑαυτὸν ὡς αἴσχιστον ὀφθῆναι, τὴν οὐ λέγεσθαι πρέπουσαν ἀκαθαρσίαν κατὰ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἐσθῆτος τοῦ πρεσβευτοῦ κατεσκέδασε. (raising his mantle and throwing himself into the most disgusting posture to be exposed in, he bespattered the Ambassador’s sacred robe with the unspeakable filth).—Galen, Exhortat. ad artes ch. 6., ἀνασυράμενοι προσουροῦσι. (lifting up their clothes, they make water over it).—Lucian, Cataplus 13., καὶ σὺ δὲ ὦ Ἑρμῆ; σύρετ’αὐτὸν εἴσω τοῦ ποδός. (You too, Hermes? drag ye him within your leg). Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. p. 13, mentions an Ἀφροδίτη περιβασίη Aphrodité protectress,—or otherwise, Aphrodité that stretches the legs apart), known also to Hesychius, and explained by some Commentators as “stretching the legs apart”. In Suidas σαίρειν is explained by hiare (to gape open); and the Lexicographers give σάραβος as meaning γυναικεῖον αἰδοῖον (a woman’s privates) and the word is found in Dio Chrysostom, De regno IV. 75., as the name of a Tavern-keeper,—also if we are not mistaken, in Plato. σάρων too Hesychius explains by γυναικεῖον (woman’s parts). He also has ἀρρενώπες (masculine-looking), which some interpret by Androgyne (man-woman) or fellator. The reading ἀγράπους occurring, we might also read γυρόπους (crook-footed); Suidas under word γραῦς (old woman) cites: ἡ γρῆϋς, ἡ χερνῆτις, ἡ γυρὴ πόδας. (the old woman, the spinster, the crooked of feet).

27 Catullus, Carm. 35. 64.,

(Think you, because you sit there side by side, a hundred fools, or two hundred, think you I shan’t dare to irrumate two hundred sitters at once?).

28 Aelian, Hist. Anim. bk. VI. ch. 24., ἡ δὲ ἡσύχως καὶ πεφεισμένως τοῦ ἑαυτῆς στόματος ἀνατρέπει αὐτούς. (but the fox, quietly and so as to forbear biting with its mouth, turns them over). ch. 64., ἥδε χανεῖν τε καὶ ἐνδακεῖν οὐ δυναμένη, κᾆτα οὔρησεν αὐτοῦ ἐς τὸ στόμα. (but she—the fox—being unable to open her mouth and fix her teeth in, finally made water into its mouth).

29 Virgil, Aen. VI. 494., says of Deiphobus, Helen’s paramour:

(And now Deiphobus he sees, the glorious Priam’s son;

Martial, bk. III. Epigr. 85.,

(Who persuaded you to crop the adulterer’s nostrils? ’Twas not with this part the offence was done you, sir husband! Foolish man, what have you done? in this your wife has lost naught, so long as her Deiphobus’member is safe and sound). Martial, bk. II. Epigr. 83.,

(You have mutilated, husband, the unhappy adulterer: and his face cropped of nose and ears asks itself what it was like before. Think you your revenge is complete? Nay! you are mistaken; the fellow can still irrumate!)—a passage that might very well be made to prove our point.

30 Martial, bk. XI. Epigr. 61.,

(Maneius is a husband with his tongue, a debaucher with his mouth). Bk. III. Epigr. 84.,

(What tale is it your harlot tells? Nay! I did not say girl, Tongilion. What then? Why, tongue!).

31 Diodorus, Bk. I. ch. 60. Same is related in Strabo, Geogr. bk. XVI. p. 759.—Seneca, De Ira bk. III. ch. 20.

32 Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. bk. VI. ch. 30., Rhinocolura vero illo tempore viris piis non aliunde advocatis, sed indigenis floruit, quorum optimos sapientiae sese studio hic dedisse intellexi. Novi Melanam, tunc ecclesiae episcopum et Dionysium, monasterium ad septentrionem urbis moderantem, ac Solonem, Melanis fratrem ac successorem in episcopatu. (But Rhinocolura at that time abounded in men of piety, not invited thither, but natives, the most eminent of whom I have been informed devoted themselves in that place to the study of Wisdom. I knew personally Melanas, then Bishop of the church there, and Dionysius, governing a monastery lying to the South of the City, and Solon, brother of Melanas and his successor in the Bishopric.). The same is affirmed by Nicephorus as well, (Hist. Eccles. bk. XI. ch. 38.). Within the last two years there has appeared a Tract or Occasional Paper, dealing with the Colony at Rhinocolura, but unfortunately we cannot put our hand on the more precise memorandum of its contents.

33 As to his views on the Morbus Phoeniceus (Phoenician Disease), this will be discussed under the head of the vice of the Cunnilingue.

34 Bonorden, “Die Syphilis” (Syphilis). Berlin 1834., p. 19.

35 Clossius, “Ueber die Lustseuche” (On Venereal Disease). Tübingen 1797., p. 49.—Perenotti di Cigliano, Of Venereal Disease, p. 92. Fabre, Treatise on Venereal Disease, p. 5.

36 Martial, XI. Epigr. 30.,

(The mouth you say smells ill with pleaders and poets; but Zoilus, it smells worse with the fellator). Hence the expressions, os male olens, anima foetida, gravis, graveolens, graveolentia oris spiritus ieiunio macer, ieiuna anima, hircosum osculum, basia olidissima. (evil-smelling mouth, fetid breath, foul, ill-smelling, fetid smell of the breath from the mouth—hungry and lean, fasting breath, goaty kiss, most smelly embraces). Possibly too this was the origin of the Lemnian women’s punishment. Comp. above p. 148.

37 Galen, Comment. on Hippocrates’De Humor. bk. II., edit. Kühn, Vol. XVI. p. 215. Different means of counteracting this evil are given by Galen, De parabilib. bk. II. ch. 7., Vol. XIV. p. 424. of Kühn’s ed., where amongst other matter we read: διαμασῶνται δέ τινες καὶ τῆς πίτυος φύλλα, ὅταν ἐκπορεύωνται, καὶ ὕδατι διακλύζονται, (but others chew up even leaves of the pine, when they go abroad, and wash out the mouth with water), the Latin lavare, aquam sumere (to wash, to take water)?—as to which later.

38 Martial, VI. 55.,

(Because forever scented with cassia and cinnamon and smeared with spices from the nest of the proud phoenix, you are fragrant of the leaden caskets of Niceros, you laugh at us that are unscented; I had rather even than smell sweet, not smell at all).

39 So Euripides, Medea 525., joins together στόμαργον γλωσσαλγίαν (busy-mouthed tongue-tiresomeness, i.e. wearisome talkativeness).

40 Perhaps there is an allusion to this in Martial, bk. XI.

41 Martial, Bk. VI. Epigr. 41. Also bk. IV. Epigr. 41.,

(Why do you when going to read your verses aloud wind woollen wraps round your throat? The wool were better in our ears). The tacere (to hold his tongue) in the first Epigram stands for fellare, as in Martial, VII. IX. 5. 96. Perhaps too the verse of Epicharmus given in Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic. I. ch. 15. is applicable in this connection, οὐ λέγειν δύνατος, ἀλλὰ σιγᾷν ἀδύνατος. (Not able to speak, yet unable to be silent). Comp. Martial, VI. 54. VII. 48. XII. 35.—“Harpocratem reddere (to recall Harpocrates” in Catullus 74. 4.) Again Minutius Felix, In Octav., says: “Esse malae linguae, etiamsi tacerent” (To be of a foul tongue, even if they kept silence). Priapeia, 27. 4., “altiora tangam” (I will touch higher things). In part we may have to look for the same allusion also in Ausonius’ Epigrams 46, 47 and 51, and several other very similar ones in the Anthology.